30 youth workers and youth leaders from 5 countries (Italy, Armenia, Estonia, Georgia and Hungary) will participate in the 8-day international training course “Unleashing Entrepreneurial Power through Youth Work” which will take place in Yerevan, Armenia from 16 to 23 November 2015. Unemployment is a big challenge for Europe and neighboring countries. The unprecedented technological development and increased inter-dependence that the world is experiencing have not provided a solution to ones who are left outside the system, especially the young people who find it more and more difficult to meet the ever-changing labor market demands. The problem is even more acute among youth with fewer opportunities in rural and urban areas where opportunity is a scarce resource and access to education is limited. The frustration and disempowerment of the disadvantaged youth continually breeds low self-esteem, low motivation and cynicism. Within the framework of potential efforts and strategies to boost employment and job creation for young people, entrepreneurship is increasingly accepted as an important means and a valuable additional strategy to create jobs and improve livelihoods and economic independence of young people. It is an innovative approach to integrating youth into today’s changing labour markets. Although the crucial role played by entrepreneurship in driving economic development and job creation is increasingly understood, there has been little effort to look at it from a youth perspective. Young people are mostly treated as part of the general adult population, while their specific needs and particular entrepreneurial potential as well as their critical contribution to economic and social progress are underestimated. Youth workers and youth leaders working directly with young unemployed people in deprived rural and urban areas are uniquely positioned to inspire and empower youth to be creative, entrepreneurial and business minded through non-formal and informal activities and raises their self-confidence and enthusiasm which leads to promotion of entrepreneurial culture and higher awareness of personal empowerment among youth. The international training course “Unleashing Entrepreneurial Power through Youth Work” aims to train and equip youth workers and youth leaders working directly with young unemployed people in deprived rural and urban areas with essential entrepreneurial and business tools, methods and skills to enable them to contribute to tackling of the problem of unemployment among youth in deprived rural and urban areas through quality youth work that promotes self-employment and entrepreneurial culture. The training course will be based on non formal learning methods and principles, intercultural dialogue and communication including group discussions, interactive presentations, participant’s lead workshops, team work,etc. The methodology of the project will stimulate active participation, sense of initiative and involvement of the learners. It aims to create a learning space with better self-awareness and awareness of the needs and goals of the groups of young people they work with to enhance the results of the learning process and give birth to high quality projects led by the participants in the future. The project aims to reveal the value of the Erasmus+ Programme as a tool for youth empowerment and raise awareness about Youthpass tool for supporting young people harness skills and personal growth through self-reflection and learning documentation. Objectives of the training course: - Introduce youth entrepreneurship as a tool of fighting youth unemployment in deprived rural and urban areas. - Learn to use youth work to empower youngsters to start their creative search for entrepreneurial opportunities. - Learn to use non-formal education to support current and future job-seekers to be pro-active and able to apply entrepreneurial approach into career development. - Explore ways for using sport and other outdoor activities for developing entrepreneurial skills in young people. - Explore ways for using youth work to bring alienated and marginalized youth back into the economic mainstream and giving them a sense of meaning and belonging; Helping address some of the socio-psychological problems and delinquency that arises from joblessness; - Learn to use Youthpass and the Key Competences to support young people through creative process of skill harnessing, self-reflection and documentation of the personal learning process. - Develop quality youth mobility projects to be applied under Erasmus+ Programme. - Develop and publish online the “Booklet for Entrepreneurship Focused Youth Work with Young People with Fewer Opportunities in Deprived Rural and Urban Areas”